Snow 2

A want.......to bad.

This is the coolest thing ever!!! It's a cover for the iPhone. I would get it instantly but it doesn't have a hole in the bottom for the charger. ARGH!!!!!

Brown Sugar

I may have posted this before but just in case I'm going to share it again. Some of you probably already know this but brown sugar is super easy to make!!! I hate it when my brown sugar dries up and hardens. I've done the piece of bread trick which worked okay but I didn't really like it. Then I read on a blog about making your brown sugar as you need it and I've never looked back.

1 Cup granulated sugar + 1 Table spoon molasses = 1 cup light brown sugar.
Throw it in a mixer on medium speed for 5-10 minutes and brown beautiful moist sugar appears. Be patient cause it may look like it's never going to happen but it will:) Now I make it fresh every time.

Bonus!! I now have molasses to make ginger snaps cookies with. Before I never kept molasses in my cupboard.

For all you lovely people out there who check out our blog I want you to know that I know most of you can't leave comments. I don't know why and I haven't been able to fix it but I know you're out there keeping an eye on us:)

Food?

Digging for pinnapple chunks from her jello. My favorite part is when she sighs.

This girl wants to feed herself sooooo badly but I just don't think she's ready.

The sadness set in as soon as the star went on the tree. Just about everyday she requests for it to be taken down to be played with:) And though she doesn't need the Bumbo anymore it's still her favorite seat.

Mikey's ambiance. Beautiful!

Um I'm a little bit excited for this movie!!!! Snow White & The Huntsman

Like Father, Like Daughter

P.S.

We are expecting a new addition to our family May 26ish:)

Am I Being Overly Dramatic?

Tomorrow morning we'll be waking Ruth up at 5am for our lovely 6:30am flight. If all goes as planned Ruth will not sleep well, be cranky when woken up, fall asleep in the car just to be woken up again, cry the whole flight and go a whole day without a nap.

I'm planning on tomorrow being one of the worst days of my life then if it goes better than planned I'll be relieved and live to fly another day.

Have You Seen This? Tears of joy | ksl.com

Have You Seen This? Tears of joy | ksl.com

So Much For Safety

Punkins

Pickin Punkins

One of my favorite activities is an outing to the Farmers Market. We had yummy drinks, ate yummy old fashion candy, nibbled baked goods and ate at the seafood restaurant. Ruth and the punkins was the high light. I will post videos later.

I replaced the quitters with a new improved fish. If this one gives up I won't be getting another just in case I'm actually committing murder.

Another one gave up.

One fish already died....it didn't even have a name yet. quitter. that's now it's name.

Mike and I decided it would take to long to have a large family so we bought 3 fish today. We haven't decided on names yet but we love them like they were human.

Daddy's Shirt

I Love the Lord - Be Still, My Soul

Amanda reminded, when she came to visit, of this song the Men's Choir sang at conference a few years back and I love it. I tear up every time. It was one of my pre-Church activities today.

1 More

This is one of my favorite video's of Mike and Ruth. I've been wanting to post it for ages but couldn't because of technical difficulties. She's 2 months old in this.....I only just noticed the swear word in the back ground sorry.

Video Dump

Ruth's new Sunday outfit. Thanks Mom:)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wStkRzg4k8

This girl hates shoes.......but she did better with them today.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdYFfsxm6qY

Smart Baby.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tzxF2gbL40

Hacked

I woke up this morning to a post on this blog under my name that I hadn't written. It was titled "I Love This Man Even Though He Isn't My Husband" I didn't read it on the off chance it would be a virus so I don't know what was in it but I'm sorry if anyone else did.

Kelly

Great Find

For months I've been looking for something to keep my current needle work in that wouldn't be an eye soar in my living room. There are obviously lots of options out there but I was looking for a GREAT price and I found it:) I went to the clearance isle at Walmart and found this large picnic basket sitting there just for me. The problem was it didn't have a price tag. Hoping for the best I took it to the check out with me. The manager happened to be close by and on finding out I had this basket she let me have it for $3 because she was sick of it coming up to the register and not being able to find a price for it. I love it!!!

GOOF BYE HAIR

My wonderful friend Kristie chopped 9 inches off my hair today! Can you believe it was that long? 1 more inch and I would have been able to donate it but there wasn't a whole lot of it since I was close to going bald after having Ruth. Seriously! When it just kept coming out (women usually experience hair lose after giving birth due to hormone changes and other annoying things) I thought I was going to wake up one morning with bald patches. My pony tails were maybe the circumference of a dime...maybe smaller. It was the most pathetic pony tail you've ever seen on a grown woman. 

p.s. I took these pictures cause Mike was scared of what he's come home to so a request was made for me to email pics. to him.

p.p.s. He says it looks thicker:)

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO US!!

Amanda has been visiting this week (more on that later) which made it possible for us to go on a date for our anniversary:) AMAZING!!!!

To start off Mike and I both completely forgot about it! In fact Amanda was the one who told me it was my anniversary.....pathetic, but it was pretty funny to see the Oh Crap face when I said "Happy Anniversary" to Mike.

We broke protocol and took Amanda and Ruthie out for Anniversary Thai food. The constant moving and shifting of plates/glasses/utensils/napkins out of Ruth's reach kept us on our toes. SHE IS SO FAST! AND SNEAKY!! AND STRONG!!!

Ruth mourned at the front door while we were at a movie. Amanda said she would crawl over to the door and whimper like she kept expecting us to come back through it. I love that girl.

3 years:)

Ruth's 1st Walk in Shoes

Dumbies

‎"If the US Government was a family, they would be making $58,000 a year, they spend $75,000 a year, & are $327,000 in credit card debt. They are currently proposing BIG spending cuts to reduce their spending to $72,000 a year. These are the actual proportions of the federal budget & debt, reduced to a level that we can understand." - Dave Ramsey

Good Bye

Mike and I decided it was time to get rid of Friar Tuck so we buzzed him off. We did it really fast before I had to much time to think about it........when I saw the hair on the ground I was soooooo sad but she actually looks really cute:) in a boy kind of way:)

I asked Mike to get Ruth dressed yesterday and he found this.

I bought an Astringent for my face in the hopes that it would help clear up my acne (which i only get in humid climates. thanks NC). It seems to be doing well but it makes my face smell like Maple Syrup. For 2 days I kept thinking, "Why does it smell like pancakes?"

Xbox Baby

One of Ruth's favorite things is to open the tray on our xbox. So to prevent any breakage this is where it sits now.

New Blog

Technically this blog is titled Us and Ruth meaning Mike, Ruth and Myself so I've decided to dedicate this blog completely to our family stuff. All my crafting and things that I do to pass the time will be on my new blog CowbellKelly. I'm not going to pretend to be a pro crafter in fact I'm definitely a novice but I do want to share my experiences with those who may be interested:)

Enjoy.

I want to do this.

I would LOVE to remodel a doll house!!! This is from Sarah Jane, she's an illustrator that designs paper, fabric and embroidery patterns based in Provo UT (up above Timpview and the Temple). She redid this doll house to display some of her designs at a Fabric show. BRILLIANT!!!!!!!!! I recently bought some patterns from her shop on etsy.com and I'm so excited to make them for Ruth's room:) Check it out, you won't be disappointed!!

The Biz

For all you women out there who have a man that games I have a little insight for you. Mike used to play WoW (World of Warcraft) during his leisure time....and any other time he could fit in. And while it was sometimes super irritating and the cause of occasional heated discussion, "I HATE that computer!!!!" :) I understood that Mike needed an outlet from the rigors of school. Well, Mike has since started playing Starcraft and other games he can buy online. SO MUCH BETTER!!!!!! His time on the computer is much more flexible. What I mean is with WoW he had to schedule times when he could team up with his buddies to kick some butt (some of which are on the other side of the country with different time zones ie it's 12am here and 10pm in Utah when they'd start sometimes.) and then the computer would be tied up for ages till they were done. If I needed it to bad or if I needed him to bad. But now I can have Mike back after only 10 or 15 minutes ( reading back I sound really ridiculous)

What I'm trying to say is that not all computer games are created equal and there are some out there that are more friendly for family life than others. It's just up to the men to find the one for them that works.

p.s. I wish I was more eloquent but I'm not.

p.p.s. Target doesn't open for 20 more minutes and Ruth is wearing her last diaper which she just pooped in. ug....

p.p.p.s. it's oddly satisfying that Spell Check doesn't recognize Starcraft or WoW as words:)

Chicken Enchiladas With Green Salsa | Real Simple Recipes

This is one of the yummiest enchilada recipes I've ever eaten!!! The green salsa just makes it sensational!

Chicken Enchiladas With Green Salsa | Real Simple Recipes

The Happenings....

Some of you may know that Mike's Bro. Dallin made it to the National History Fair in D.C. so AWESOME!!! We drove up and spent 2 1/2 fun filled days with him and Mike's mom Susanne. We ate, walked, played and chit chatted to my hearts content. Ruth struggled a bit with the ever changing locations/people and the lack of sleep, not to mention the fact that she pushed out a molar while we were there but on the whole she did better than I expected.......no diaper blow outs.

I've said this before but I'm going to say it again that I LOVE D.C. I love the big old building and the food and China Town and the History and all the people and I just love it. Everyone should visit at least once in there lives. There's a Newseum! A Museum of News! It may sound lame but it was really cool. There was a HUGE wall covered with the front pages of news papers from all over the country and world the day after September 11 and another one showing the news progression of Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans. And a section of Presidents and so forth. Really cool. If you've never been come stay with me and we'll go:)

Us at the host of the National History Fair the University of Maryland or Maryland State University. I forget which:)

Snack time for the kiddies at the Newseum.

While they snacked I took these. This is Pennsylvania Ave. topped by the Capitol Building.

Pennsylvania Ave.....the other way. Who knows what direction I'm pointing? That's the Washington Monument in the background which would put the White House this Direction.

Highlight's of the Trip:

1-Susanne taking us through the History board's searching for her favorites. Kid in a candy store.

2-Dallin navigating the Metro like a native!!!!

3-Ruth flirting with anyone and everyone on the train/the line/the restaurant/the store/the theater and so on.......

4-the WONDERFUL WEATHER!! It was overcast which drastically cut down on the amount of heat and it only rained once while we were already inside.

5-Fudruckers. Yummy Burgers, Happy Ruth.

6-Mike after eating a Burger, fries and two GIANT chocolate crepes wants a third.

7-Ruth, who weighs about 25 pounds, a back pack, a stroller and I navigating the Metro back to the hotel for her badly needed nap. Up and down, up and down the escalator's, half of which are broken.

8-Ruth giving Susanne kisses on her last night. It only took 2 1/2 days for her to decide to be nice.

9-The DC traffic jam that added 1 1/2 hours to the trip home about driving us MAD.

10- Me changing Ruth on the floor in the lobby of a Dunkin Donuts. "No changing table? What are they thinking!"

P.S. The bugs keep killing my flowers.

New Things...

A few weeks ago I was DIEING for a new craft to do so I wandered around Joann's looking for inspiration and came across some iron on patterns. EUREKA!!!!! I believe I have found my new craft love. Embroidery. Obviously I'm very novice but all I can do is improve:)

This Raggedy Ann Onesie for Ruth was my first project. I had decided to make some kitchen towels (I'll post them later) as a wedding present for a friend so I practiced on this first which I'm very glad I did. I kinda want to take out the hair and redo it but we'll see.

These Baby Booties will be a Shower gift in the future. The flowers came out of my brain:)

These were also pieces of an iron on pattern that I made into hair barrettes, they just need to be mounted.

For my next project I want to make a picture for Ruth's bedroom which is in dire need of some decor. I found this designer on a blog I follow and I LOVE HER!!!! I can't decide which pattern I'll use but it will definitely be one of hers.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RUTH!!!! We celebrated her 1st Birthday on Sunday since Mike's youngest Bro. Dallin was in town and it turns out she doesn't like Birthday's so much:( Oh well. There are many more to come and I feel they will grow on her.

B-Day Cupcake Fail

Occasionally Mom's have to let their babies misbehave so that they can finish making themselves ready for the rest of the world.

Scary Daddy

linguine with Shrimp Scampi

I made this the other day and it's one of my new favorites!! It's a Rachel Ray but I changed a few things. I bought a bag of frozen shrimp at Sam's Club about 2 months ago and made 4 meals from it which is how I could afford buying shrimp. Try it!!!!!!

Linguine With Shrimp Scampi

Veggie Oil

Salt

3/4 p. Linguine (I used half a box since it's just Mike and I)

3 Tbsp. Unsalted Butter

2 1/2 Tbsp. Olive Oil

1 1/2 Tbsp. Minced Garlic (4 cloves)

1 p. Shrimp, peeled and deveined, (about 16 shrimp)

1/4 tsp. pepper

1/3 C. chopped fresh Parsley, (I used Fresh Basil cause lets be honest Fresh basil is AMAZING!!!)

1/2 Lemon Zest

1/4 C. Fresh Lemon Juice (2 Lemons), -1 Lemon if using just half a package

1/1 Lemon, thinly sliced into half rounds

1/8 tsp. red pepper flakes (I didn't have any so I substituted 1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper)

Drizzle oil in Lrg. pot salted boiling water. Add 1 Tbsp. salt and Linguine. Cook till al dente.

meanwhile, in heavy bottomed pan, melt butter and olive oil over med-low heat. Add garlic, saute for 1 min till fragrant. Add shrimp, 1 1/2 tsp. salt and pepper. Saute till opaque, about 5 minutes, turning often. Remove from heat, add parsley (BASIL!!!) zest, lemon juice, lemon slices and pepper flakes. Toss with drained pasta in pot and serve.

FROSTING MANIA

I made frosting from scratch for the first time tonight. I was so excited I didn't wait for it to cool before putting it on the cake so it was super runny, which is catastrophic when your so focused on scraping the bowl you don't notice it over flowing the pan! AAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!! But it was good which made all us Anderson's happy including Ruth who got frosting by the spoonful from Mike:)

P.S. She's turning 1 year old in 4 weeks!!!!!!!!

Projects

These were my project this week. A friend sent me to this site for some cute bow patterns that are super easy. Ruth hates headbands so these won't be worn till she has hair which is many, oh so many, moons away. Poor bald baby. Thats a lady bug on the red one.

I finally finished The Ruther's Easter Dress and she weared it today:)

Ruthie's Swimming Suit

This is her new Go To Face. It's hard now to get that cute smile or just about anything else besides this. We call it the Grimlin Face.

Wingless Buffalo Chicken Pizza

This is one of my favorites!!! It's a Rachel Ray Recipe.

• 3/4 pound chicken breast cutlets
• Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling
• 2 teaspoons grill seasoning, (recommended: McCormick Montreal Seasoning) eyeball it
• 1 pizza dough, store bought or from your favorite pizzeria
• Cornmeal or flour, to handle dough
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce, eyeball it
• 2 to 3 tablespoons hot sauce, medium to spicy heat
• 1/2 cup tomato sauce
• 1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese, a few generous handfuls
• 1/2 cup blue cheese crumbles
• 3 scallions, thinly sliced

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Preheat grill pan to high.

Place chicken on a plate and drizzle extra-virgin olive oil over the chicken then season with grill seasoning. When grill is hot, add chicken and cook about 3 minutes on each side.

Stretch dough to form pizza using cornmeal or flour to help you handle it. If you let it rest and warm up a few minutes it will handle even easier. Set pizza on pizza pan to the side and clean board.

In a medium skillet over medium heat, melt butter and stir in Worcestershire, hot sauce, and tomato sauce.

Remove the chicken from grill and thinly slice it. Add chicken to sauce and coat. Cover the pizza dough with the saucyBuffalochicken, cheeses, and scallions. Bake 18 minutes or untilcrisp

Note: I only baked mine for 10 minutes and it almost over cooked so keep an eye on it!!!!! And 2 Tbsp. of Chalula Sauce makes it just spicy enough without roasting my face and Ruth would eat it. And that McCormick Montreal stuff is a new staple in my kitchen. I use it just about every time I make chicken now.

Things That Happen......

Yesterday Ruth and I were having a jolly time playing on the floor when I noticed her diaper and pants were sagging dangerously. So I pinched the diaper pants and gave them a good tug. A few moments later my eye started to water so I rubbed it with the same hand. Then I noticed a funny smell coming from my finger. My thoughts: Why does my finger smell? Did my eye make my finger smell like that? (Do another Good Rub STUPIDLY) What is that? It's kinda like stinky belly button smell? What have I touched recently? Wait.....AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

Yes. I hadn't noticed that Ruth's diaper was full of poop and on my finger from tugging her diaper pants and I wiped it on my face. Vigorous washing ensued.

A Rant.

Why do people who push their way through traffic give you the Thank You wave? I mean they literally inch inch inch forward into a space that is obviously not meant for them, by being to small for their huge car, forcing you to stay put and block other lanes. Then they smile and give you the wave!!! It's like someone cutting in the middle of a line by nudging and bullying you out of the way and then smiling and saying thank you like you just did this big favor for them!!!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

On a happier note I declare that I LOVE dirt roads and paths!!! I love the sound it makes on the tires and on my shoes. I know that might be weird but it's such a happy yummy sound for me that it's almost therapeutic to hear it. I also love back roads. They're more fun to drive on and usually have less lights which is preferable. Thats one of the things that draws me to small towns. They also have less traffic or sidewalks which make it possible to walk in the street:)

Pics.

I went to check on Ruth during her nap and this is what I found. She had fallen asleep sitting up:)

Back Pack Baby.

And a very helpful baby. Putting the power supply in the computer was no problem for Mike and his Side Kick The Ruthie.

The Biz

I surf foodnetwork.com regularly for new recipes so today I went into my account, which is free and allows me to tag recipes I like, and organized them to coincide with my meal planning menu. I arranged it by day and type ie. Tuesday-Asian or Tuesday-Italian etc.

Now I can go to a specific day and browse like I would a cook book and makes the process faster.

Note: I never use an online recipe unless it's been rated by at least 50 people and has 5 stars, an idea I got from my sis-in-law Lauren, because I was sick of making stuff that ended up not being good.

We are currently in Wash. DC visiting with Mike's brother Rob, Mike's cous. Hunter and our buddy B. Stock. The weather is CRAZY!!!!! Tornado warnings and rain-rain-rain. This is now my 4th or 5th time here and I have to say certain parts of DC would be super fun to live in!!! The neighborhood Hunter lives in is kinda shaby chic. The Apts are super stacked and close but so cute with their teeny tiny plant yards and within walking distance of anything you could want. I would live there in a heart beat!!!! I will also say Maryland is beautiful state. Rolling green hills with farm houses a few acres apart is ideal and the area Rob's in-laws live in is just that and only 30 minutes from Baltimore.

Ruth has 7 teeth and crawls.

Interesting Article

This is an interesting article a columnist wrote about her obsession with Mormon Mommy Bloggers. She's not LDS but she finds herself reading them everyday. Read it, it's interesting.

"I'm a young, feminist atheist who can't bake a cupcake. Why am I addicted to the shiny, happy lives of these (Mormon) women?"

http://www.salon.com/life/feature/2011/01/15/feminist_obsessed_with_mormon_blogs

twin baby boys have a conversation - OFFICIAL VIDEO

Ruth now has 6 teeth. CRAZY!!! she also decided out of the blue that she hates baby food which really puts me down seeing as we have 3 boxes of it left. and to put salt in a wound she won't feed herself still. she'll gladly eat any solids Mike or i place in her mouth but she will not pick it up and eat it. in fact her favorite thing to do is flick everything off her tray onto the floor then lean over and play with it on the carpet. double fun because if it happens to stick to her clammy hands it must be swiped off. needless to say she has digressed.

Mike is working hard as ever at school and work (he's an RA for 2 professor's) and i think i'm accurate in saying his highlight of the day is coming home and playing with Ruthie. he can make her laugh and laugh. they seriously watch YouTube video's of WorldofWarcraft and StarCraft together regularly and she holds still most of the time.

i'm still couponing up a storm. yesterday i bought makeup and body wash at cvs and made a profit of 50 cents:) the meal planning has been going well, sometimes we're not impressed with what i make but for the most part it's good food. it just means i won't be making it again.

i'm feeling the lack of cable/satellite but mostly i really miss netflix. i just like the background noise and the variety. i go once a week to the library for video's but it takes 2 or 3 days to watch them then it's repeat for the next 4 or 5 days. i think i watched Bed Knobs and Broomsticks 4 times in one day. of course i wasn't paying attention but Mike protested it yesterday.

Up Coming Events: Rob's going to be in DC April 13 and through the weekend so we're going to hop up there and visit. hopefully we'll see Hunter and Lisa Anderson (Mike's cousin and wife) and B Stock while we're up there.

Begging for food at dinner.

Another Change

I'm thinking that during the summer we're not going to want hot cooked meals as much and won't want to cook oodles over a hot stove/oven so Sundays during the Summer will be Cold Salads.

Yesterday we had a Bell Pepper and Asparagus Tortellini salad with a lemon/Dijon Mustard Dressing (Better Homes and Gardens Anniversary Addition pg. 464). I made the dressing Saturday night, boiled the pasta and veggies in the morning, tossed it with the dressing and through it in the fridge. All I had to do when I got home was stir in the green onion and toasted almonds I had cut before Church which is at 1pm. Some adjusting will have to happen next year when we have 9am Church.

I've got that 2 oclock feeling so bad right now. Napping would be so lovely but my kitchens a disaster and I'm baking pizza's tonight.

So here is my revised Meal Planning Format (Original by Liz Edmunds, The Food Nanny). I'm planning my menu every two weeks.

Monday's: Sandwich's-there are soooooo many good sandwich's out there! Tonight we're having Artichoke and Basil Hero's.

Tuesday's: Italian or Asian-I do any every other week kind of thing. This weeks Chicken Satay Skewers w/peanut sauce and Sesame noodles.

Wednesday's: Fish or Meatless-which includes breakfast food. French Toast for dinner? Yes Please!

Thursday's: Mexican- If you've never made corn tortillas from scratch I recommend you try it. They're easier than I thought and SUPER GOOD!! Liz recommends using a gallon freezer bag with the sides cut off to roll the dough between which is how I do it.

Friday's: Pizza night! I make 2 pizza's each time. The 1st one's for dinner, since it's just Mike and I, the 2nd bakes while we eat and takes care of lunch for Saturday.

Saturday's: Grill night. We don't have a grill right now so I'm looking to get a Grill pan for the stove. Otherwise, this can be a date night or fend-for-yourselves night:)

Sunday's: Tradition/Comfort food. Make your Mom's or Mother-in-laws specialties.....or at least try. By now Mike and I have some of our own faves, Red Thai curry, Aussie potato bake etc.

Scary!!!

B (Brian Stock) shared this with Mikey and I'm sharing it with you:)

Note: if ever you find yourself having a hard day or you're sad and need to smile just get on youtube and watch videos of funny babies.

The Beast Sleeps

While I was washing bottles at about 5:20pm Ruth starts bouncing and going CRAZY!!!!! Thinking she's hungry I tell her I'll make a bottle as soon as I finish washing them. About 4 minutes later it gets quiet.

I found this Nativity on etsy.com and I'm a little in love. I collect nativities and some day this will be mine.